Brushfire Stankgrass set to open NC Brewers and Music Festival

Thursday

May 9, 2013 at 3:47 PM

Brushfire Stankgrass will open the North Carolina Brewers and Music Festival the same way that solid rocket boosters used to launch NASA's space shuttles into the heavens – with profound, atmosphere rending thrust.

By JEREMY L.C. JONESFor the Herald-Journal

Brushfire Stankgrass will open the North Carolina Brewers and Music Festival the same way that solid rocket boosters used to launch NASA's space shuttles into the heavens – with profound, atmosphere rending thrust. The band will catch fire and explode. It's what they do. Originally called just Brushfire, the quartet added the "stankgrass" in order to both set themselves apart from other bands called Brushfire and also to convey the spirit of the band better. "’Stank’ is a smell," said Ben Saylor, who plays banjo, "and a smell is a powerful descriptor – funky and somewhat herby." Stankgrass, you see, is bluegrass-fusion, only funkier. There's an earthiness in their music that collides with their astronautical bent; they are like space travelers who take pockets full of dirt from back home on their journey. There's a pick up behind the head of Saylor's banjo and a pedal rack at his feet. He uses both digital and analog effects, but prefers analog. "Digital is based on ones and zeros – with one of those green boards inside," Saylor said. "And then there's analog, which is based more on circuitry, based on the original synthesizers that were created in the '70s. We play with a lot of Moog effects." After all, this is modern mountain music and that includes music made with the help of the Asheville-based Moog Music, Inc. "Basically, you're taking the sound, sending it on these electronic waves through these funny electronic paths and end up making the sound come out the other end differently," Saylor said. "Analog effects give it a warmer, more organic sound than digital effects." The result, said Saylor, is some "pretty funky noises." "I was zero effects for years and years," Saylor said. "I finally broke down and started dabbling, but my brother Will who plays guitar in the band has had a huge pedal rack for as long as he's been in bands. He's got quite an impressive array of effects as well." For all the electronics, Saylor's playing is most definitely steeped in tradition. Imagine if Earl Scruggs had been born at the end of the 20th century instead of at the beginning; he may have played something like Saylor. Scruggs in space? That may sound absurd, but put the right analog effect on that notion and you'll get a pretty good idea what Ben Saylor sounds like. "I still love playing straight up unplugged acoustic banjo," Saylor said. "I love playing pure bluegrass all night long. I love the traditional style of bluegrass. But when I play a live set I do like to have additional sounds to play around with. It's fun to add an additional texture here and there and I do feel somewhat naked sometimes when I don't have the effects around." The current incarnation of the band has been together since 2006. "We've been at it a while," Saylor said. "Longer than most. The newest evolution is that we're continuing to add more analog electronic effects to our playing. The sound is evolving more toward an electronica-bluegrass feel. I'd say we're leaning toward more of a funky-disco tempo these days." Saylor and his brother have been playing together since they were old enough to hold the instruments. "Will and I get along," Saylor said. "We have very similar musical visions. But we're also very different and we fight all the time. But we make it work. We know each other’s ins and outs more than anybody else could. At every rehearsal we quibble about something, but it's pretty light-hearted." A lot of the warmth that comes through the sound system grows out of the mutual respect of two brothers playing with and off each other. "When you have a couple of guys on stage who have been playing together for like 25 years, you have a great depth of musical interplay," Saylor said. "We balance each other well. He's a little more musically conservative and I'm a little more out there. We have a yin and yang thing going." Saylor keeps an eye on the outer limits. "I'd love to someday make an avant garde album that's out there but very listenable and palatable," he said. "I don't know if that'd be a Brushfire project or my own. We do get into some of that in our live sets. We take it out there a pretty good ways, but we still try to keep it tasteful. Taste is very important to the band." There are no 30-minute jams at a Brushfire Stankgrass show, though some of their fans surely wouldn't mind it if there were more. "We definitely stretch it out more in a live show," Saylor said. "Absolutely. Studio is a little more concise. We do have fun in the studio, but in the studio it's less about improvisation and more about adding textures, adding layer upon layer. You know, like, 'This sounds kind of funny but it kind of works!' We improvise a little less than most jam-bands on stage but we still take it out there." Brushfire Stankgrass draws a diverse crowd, from children to fogies, and they thrive on the festival atmosphere. "It's a lot of fun to play where people don't know who we are and to have them dancing by the end of the night," Saylor said. "It's such a thrill to do what we love the most and have other people really get down to it and enjoy themselves. Festivals are, indeed, heavenly."

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